Breaking the Mold - 3

Greetings and welcome once again to the Wednesday night service being live streamed from the Auditorium of Beacon Baptist Church on Kirkpatrick Road in Burlington, North Carolina. We are still having Sunday night and Wednesday night services from an empty auditorium by means of live stream. Sunday morning we are continuing our people present service at 930 which we have been doing now for several months and it has been going very, very well.

But this coming week things are going to be very different. We'll be having our Fall Bible Conference with Dr. Jim Oreck from Louisville, Kentucky. And those services will all be with people present Sunday morning, 930, Sunday night, 6 o'clock, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night at 715. So please plan to join us. That'll be the most people present services we have had in one week since before this COVID business all began last, whenever, February or March. And we're looking forward to it. We were grateful to hear that our Governor moved from stage two and a half to three today, which indicates further progress.

I looked over the regulations for category three or whatever the word is that is used before the number. And things have loosened up a little bit but haven't changed a great deal. However, moving up indicates that things are moving in the right direction. What we are told is that the number of COVID cases has not increased for quite a while. In other words, the rate of infection is stable, it is steady, it is not going up. They're waiting for it to go down before they lift the restrictions altogether. If, in fact, that time comes anytime soon, it's a little difficult to say. But, though we're not there yet, we are making progress, little by little by little.

And it is likely that we will also be adding a few activities to our schedule that will indicate the improvement, that will indicate the recognition of the improvement that is taking place. But all of these things being done carefully and cautiously because there still is a COVID-19 virus present in this world and it is still infecting people. And some of the people who are infected are affected severely. Either suffer long-lasting health problems and damage to their body and some, of course, die.

No. Death is a part of life. And we're not afraid of death, but we are going to be as wise as we can.

So, anyway, we are enjoying our times together, but we are being careful. We are wearing masks, if we're able. And we recognize some people cannot. And please, please, please, if you are one of those people who would be and is exempted from masks by the state regulations, then you're certainly exempted from masks in attending our services.

We understand that. Some people who have breathing problems, some people who have other problems that relate to your nasal passages. I was talking to a man yesterday, a member of our church, who has asthma. He carries his inhaler with him everywhere he goes.

And every now and then he'll have a very severe attack and has to address it quickly. And a mask is actually a source of danger to a person like that. We understand that. So if you're in that category, please don't feel conspicuous. Come, we're brothers and sisters in Christ. We give everybody the benefit of the doubt. But we are also brothers and sisters who love one another and esteem others better than ourselves.

So we're willing to wear masks if we're able to do it in order to reduce the potential for infection that might be spread from one person to another. So keep all of that in mind, but come. Come, come. Come on Sunday morning, come on Sunday night, come Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. We're looking forward to having you come. Now, one other thing that is opening up for us is that we will be conducting the Tri-State Particular Baptist Fellowship this coming Monday afternoon, October 5 beginning at 2 o'clock.

We have three speakers. One will be Manuel Pittman from Beacon Baptist. One will be Dr. Jim Orrick from Louisville, Kentucky, our conference speaker. And the final one will be David Morris, Evangelist David Morris from the Raleigh area.

I think he lives in Fuquay-Varina, somewhere in that area, and is a fine preacher of God's word. So we're looking forward to a very good day. We have not been able to conduct our Tri-State Fellowship meetings since February. Our last one was in February. We normally have them every two months.

So we didn't have April, we didn't have June, we didn't have August, but we are going to have October. And so there will be some folks coming in from other places, but you're invited to come as well to any or part of the schedule that your own schedule will allow. And another thing, our ladies, Coffee and Courage, has cranked up for the new year. And they've been holding Bible studies on Tuesday mornings, well, not every week, but two weeks on, one week off, two weeks on, one week off.

So they had one yesterday, and they'll be having another one this coming Tuesday. Wonderful time for ladies to learn the word of God and the fellowship together. Ladies Coffee and Courage meets in our fellowship hall on Tuesday morning, I think at 9.15, I'm not sure of the time. And those ladies are enjoying a wonderful time together in the things of God.

So if you are interested in that, please feel free to join our ladies on Tuesday morning. Psalm 31, 19 says, Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men. We have a number of praises to publicly declare our thanks to God for answers to prayer. Tiana Bethea, who had shoulder surgery, had a good surgery and she's recovering well. This is the granddaughter of Henry and Dorothy Campbell, members of our church. Marianne Freeman, another member of our church, received her SLPA license this last week, a few days ago. That is Speech-Language Pathology Associate.

She's a Speech-Language Pathology Associate, a licensed associate at this time. Congratulations to Marianne Freeman. She received an answer to prayer as we prayed for her.

There were some complications in regarding to that. And we're praising the Lord, the missionary Stuart Waugh, who recently had a liver transplant, a very, very serious surgery, has recovered well enough to be out of the hospital. And I'm going to read an email from him in a moment that came on Sunday morning. Certainly doing a great deal better and making plans for active ministry in Zimbabwe that will be starting within a few weeks, Lord willing.

Our government official of the week is Burlington Mayor Ian Baltutis. Pray for him. Our member Art Pope, who is waiting on results from his MRI and is going to be having a biopsy in October, early in October, I think next week. Mary Shaw is scheduled for shoulder surgery on the 14th of October. It's going to be a long recovery for her. Please pray for her. This is her sixth surgery.

Shirley Watkins is at peak resources recovering from a rather serious infection, which took her to the hospital several days ago. She is gaining strength and seems to be doing well. Pray, please, for Trinity French, who is the granddaughter of Eddie and Clara Driver, and she has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Pray for Gaylord Remel, who is recovering from a heart ablation, I think, on Monday, or maybe that was a week ago Monday, and then is scheduled for a lung biopsy tomorrow in Wisconsin. This is the father of Leanne Michaelhan and a member of our congregation. Pray for Lee Vestal, who had an ultrasound today, and I haven't heard the results of that.

I'm sure he doesn't have the results yet. And then missionaries. Grace Goodman in Alaska had surgery today.

In fact, because of the time differential, it's possible that she's still in surgery because I don't know what time that took place. I'll read a letter from them in a moment. Please continue to pray for Trevor Johnson and his family in the U.S., and Paul Snyder and his family also in the U.S. for health reasons, and we have a number of other missionaries who have needs, and the Lord knows each need. We are expressing our condolences to the families of Eva Davis, sister-in-law to Joe Davis, Ann Goad, cousin of Sue Elliott, and Ray McIntyre, a neighbor of Tommy Blanchard and a former neighbor of ours, who lived right next door to us when we lived on Woodbury Drive for 15 years, and Ray and Pat were our next-door neighbors, so we got to know them, and they're at that time young boys who have now grown up.

Ray was a solid man and a good citizen and a committed Christian, and we thank the Lord for all of that, and he was 85 years old, so we wish his wife, Pat, and his two sons the blessings of God at this time. Under cancer, we're praying for the sister of Wendy Lynch, Linda Bruner, who has lung cancer, and for a friend of Jane Latour, Stephanie Corbett, who has a tumor on the brain, I believe I'm correct, and for Scott Latour, who is a cousin to Pastor Bob Latour, and he has cancer in his thigh, and for David Moxley, who lives over on the other side of Winston-Salem, and is a friend to Nancy Verity, a member of our congregation, and he has cancer, and the last MRI showed the cancer had grown since the previous one, so they're going to put him on a different drug. Please pray for David Moxley and his battle with cancer. And we're praying for Gina Boswell, who recently had a stroke, small stroke, minor stroke that took her to the hospital.

She's now home recovering. Well, by one of those coincidences, the hymn that I brought to the pulpit tonight to read is the same one that was selected for our prelude music before the service today, so if you tuned in a few minutes early, you heard the congregation singing this hymn by James Montgomery Boyce, To him who loved us long ago before we came to be, Who left his throne for earth below to save a wretch like me, All praise to Christ from grateful men, forevermore, Amen. To him who freed us from our sin by dying on the cross, To make us whole without within, redeemed from dreadful loss, All praise to Christ from grateful men, forevermore, Amen. To him who comes arrayed in light when sinners here shall see the one they pierced and mourn the sight God promised it shall be, All praise to Christ from grateful men, forevermore, Amen. With angels, saints, and seraphim, the new creation sings, All glory, power, and praise to him who made us priests and kings, All praise to Christ from grateful men, forevermore, Amen.

Will you pray? Father, we are grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are exceedingly grateful for we recognize that without Christ we would be headed to eternal condemnation and deserve it. And how grateful we are for him who loved us long ago before we came to be, who left the splendor of heaven above to come here and to die upon the cross for those who trust in him. All praise to Christ from grateful men.

Oh, Lord, we express our praise to you. We pray, Father, for our nation. We are deeply concerned.

We are grieved. We recognize that conditions in our nation are not improving. And we recognize unless there is a change of hearts, they will not improve, but only grow worse. We recognize that there is no political solution. We recognize that there is no social solution. But, oh, Lord God, we recognize that there is a spiritual solution.

There is a God-ward solution that if you, oh, Lord, will take pity upon us and will visit our nation with the power of your Holy Spirit to change hearts and to turn us back to truth and to righteousness and to the Lord Jesus Christ and to your word, then, oh, Lord, we will see deep, lasting, and wonderful changes in our land. Oh, Lord, can we hope, can we anticipate that such a thing would be possible? And, yes, Lord, we know that with you all things are possible. And so we pray that out of your loving kindness, because of your tender mercy, because you are God of grace, not because we deserve any favor, but because of who you are, not because of who we are, we pray, oh, Lord, that you might have mercy upon us and favor our land with a breath of fresh air from above. Now, Father, meet with us tonight. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

I always look forward to the missionary communications that we consider on Wednesday nights. The first one I have is from Stuart Waugh, as he is feeling so much better, still in South Africa and will be for a while before he's able to travel to Zimbabwe. His health would not allow him to do that yet. He can't get that far away from his doctors with whom he's following up at this time.

And furthermore, the COVID situation in South Africa and Zimbabwe makes travel between countries in Africa very, very difficult, in fact, in some cases impossible. But nevertheless, he's feeling better, and he writes, Dear Greg, thank you for the blessings and encouragement of the church and your own prayerful involvement in these somewhat stressful and challenging times. We received the wonderful financial helps of $5,000 for food maintenance for the churches and $3,000 for extra medical expenses with the transplant. We are blessed beyond the telling! Please thank our precious brethren for their loving initiatives and so clear an expression of their faith in what they do and who they are to the brethren who observe from Zimbabwe. Lift your voices and hearts to the Lord today. He is worthy. We are always thanking our God for you all for so many things. You are special in all the ways that lift us up, Stuart and Laverne, sent from my iPhone.

He's technologically up to date. I secondly have a letter from Andy and Trish Goodman in Alaska, serving the Lord through Missionary Aviation in Alaska. That is the largest state, land-wise, in the United States of America, and I think the least populated of all the states in America. So when you take that small population and spread it out over that huge land mass and realize that many of the towns and villages in Alaska are not even attainable except by plane. You cannot get there by road, and if you did, it would be an incredible journey.

Some of them can be reached during the summer season by road and not during the winter, and others not even any time except by plane. You can realize how important this ministry is. So here's what they write. We wrapped up our busy summer season at Kingdom Air Corps with three days of staff meetings and team-building time. The Lord used our time together to grow our team and give us continued focus as we serve alongside one another. Andy is over halfway done with completing his CFI, Certified Flight Instructor. He keeps doing more training, getting more qualified for more and more areas for this ministry of aviation. He plans to finish up the flying portion this fall and be ready to instruct next summer.

This is a huge answer to prayer and a continued prayer request. As a family, we have been enjoying summer, fall, and preparing our minds and hearts for winter. And believe me, when you live in Alaska, preparing for winter is a big deal. Here in North Carolina, it's a much smaller matter.

Some scarcely give it a thought. But you prepare for winter if you live in Alaska. So we are preparing our minds and hearts for winter.

It is coming soon. We are back to school, and most activities are underway, ukulele, trail life, youth group, iguana, et cetera. Micah is in fourth grade. Grace is in seventh. This upcoming week, Grace is having her adenoid and tonsils removed. That's the surgery that she's having today.

The surgery will take place on Wednesday, September 30. And we would appreciate your prayers for the surgery and her recovery. Prayer requests. Number one, please pray for Andy as he completes his CFI. Number two, please pray for Grace's adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy.

I never heard it called an adenoidectomy, but it is, on Wednesday, September 30. Third, pray for Kingdom Air Corps as we implement what we learned during our staff meetings. And we praise God and thank Him for you, for His glory. Andy, Trish, Grace, and Micah Gudemann.

So good to hear from the Gudemanns. And then I have one final letter. I sent out an email and told you I'd be reading this letter from David Edens tonight. And then when I took it out to give it a closer look, I saw written across the top, confidential, do not publish on the web or any other social media site.

Thank you. We're not going to publish it on the web. However, we are live streaming our Wednesday night service, which means it is going out on the air and will be posted on the web in the audio and video form, not in written form. For that reason, therefore, I've crossed out all the names, all the references to the country, all the references to individual names.

I'm assuming that those of you who are tuned in know what country it is where the Edens serve. The Lord has blessed their ministry wonderfully in the remote area where they are, and here's what they write. Dear Praying Friends, we praise the Lord that despite many discouraging difficulties, the believers continue to distribute the word of God. We have received reports of those who are coming to Christ as they hear His word through audio, scripture players, radio broadcasts, and testimonies of believers as they meet for prayer meetings and Bible readings.

This year, the rains did not come until several weeks later than expected, the first significant one coming on the 19th of July. Once the rains began, they came in abundance, and many of the adobe mud-structured homes were swept away, as well as gardens and animals, the livelihood of many in the area, and some children were also lost and at least one adult. Meanwhile, we rejoice in the salvation of at least five new believers besides an entire family. A group of craftsmen came to, and the individual is one of the preachers and evangelists who have been trained under this ministry and who carry on an active ministry in that area, and I will just refer to him by the letter G. A group of craftsmen came to G toward the end of June and asked for audio scriptures in their language. They were distraught because they felt they had been left out while so many audio New Testaments and MP3 players had been distributed in recent years. At least ten of them professed faith in Christ. In early July, another group of men came into town. Two of them, A and I, professed their faith in Christ and asked G to meet with them each Sunday evening at five o'clock. They have obtained New Testaments and have asked to be taught the scriptures from them.

Due to ongoing restrictions resulting from the worldwide virus, G is meeting with them in groups of five at a time. At the end of July, A reported that a neighboring marketplace merchant, another A, has confessed his faith in Christ along with his entire family. I continue to get reports from him, and he desires to speak to me by telephone.

It hasn't been possible yet as we work with time zone differences and cell phone network failures, but we are working on it. T is the widow of a friend who died in a road accident about eight years ago. She is related to another A who is also a believer. In mid-July, T came to visit her friend, and when she heard the ongoing gospel teaching, her heart was touched, and she confessed her faith in Jesus Christ. Pray for her and for this group of believers who study and pray together at G's home. Another new believer, K, came into town in early September. He asked for two boxes of New Testaments for new believers. Pray for them as they study God's Word together.

On September 7, another new believer, M, visited G from a mining town. She's a schoolteacher. G obtained two boxes of New Testaments for her to use in teaching her pupils at school. She also asked for 20 MP3 players. But due to the slowed-down commercial exchanges and closed borders, only five were available for our believers to give her today as she returned to her students. Please pray for them as they learn more about Jesus. In the last three weeks, over 150 MP3 players have been distributed, most of them to new believers.

They all contain the New Testament in audio form. Many gatherings have taken place in recent works. A accompanied four believers for a prayer meeting in T, a location in Lake June. One of the main prayer requests was for much-needed rain.

In July, A was caught in the rain walking out to a meeting in this town. He was soaked through and through by the time he arrived for the prayer meeting. What a wonderful answer to prayer. They prayed for it in the previous prayer meeting, and that's the way the Lord answered their prayers. Groups of ladies are meeting for prayer. In September, J and her mother, M, along with A's daughter, F, went out to a certain village about five miles from their home for a special prayer meeting. They were surprised to find that the seasonal and usually dry riverbed had become a torrent. They were finally able to ford the stream and attend the meeting.

Mosquitoes have multiplied with the rain, but they are now better. These and other ladies, now sisters in Christ, are having special prayer meetings for Donna. That's missionary David Eden's wife, Donna, who has pretty significant heart problems. They are having special prayer meetings for Donna, and this is an encouragement to us. A has prayer meetings at his home in town. In early July, another A and S visited him. They were both converted religious teachers who now teach their people God's word from the New Testament. They had special prayer for us at that time. Another group gathered at A's home on the 13th of September.

Sixteen were in attendance. Some were his neighbors. G, a nearby neighbor, is a new believer.

Well, he goes on and lists a number of other things, which for sake of time I'm going to skip and just read this final paragraph. Please pray for these requests. We expect the 2,000 New Testaments now being printed to be delivered to us soon.

We need special wisdom to know how these are to be shipped to the central town from which all of these other ministries spread out. I pray for these believers who have been ill. G, the paraplegic, now very weak, is no longer able to leave her home. S has been ill, as has the wife of I. They may have the COVID virus, though very few cases have been reported around here.

G was recently very ill. Please pray for these families whose elderly fathers, believers, passed away, the family of A and that of M. We appreciate your intercessory prayers for these in a land where many have never heard the Gospel of Christ. Thank you for sharing your financial means to help broadcast the good news of God's Word to them.

Sincerely, in Christ, David and Donna Edens. And now will you open your Bible with me to Acts chapter 11, the passage that we have been sojourning in on Wednesday nights off and on over the last more than a month. And we're coming back to it again tonight as we consider the missionary heart of the early church as these believers broke out of the mold. You remember that they are Jews who have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. They have spread out across their part of the world over distances of several hundred miles because of persecution in Jerusalem.

They have been preaching and witnessing the Gospel, but only to Jews in every location because of the cultural background which they brought to their Christian understanding, the cultural heritage which caused them to think in terms of the Jews being the people of God in a special way that others were not and could not be unless they entered through the door of Judaism. And of course into that they were all mistaken. And that's what had to happen.

This way of thinking had to be changed. This mold of restricting the Gospel to the Jews had to be broken. And this is the passage where that takes place in a big way. I'll read Acts 11, 19 and following. Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who when they had come to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and a great many people were added to the Lord. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. And in those days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. That one of them named Agabus stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

What do we have? We have number one evangelism, number two church planting, number three deprivation and number four response. First of all evangelism, that's where it begins. We're talking about missionary activity and it begins with evangelism. You have to preach the gospel. Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature is how one translation puts it.

And that's where it all begins. And so these believers, faithful believers, earnest believers, bold, courageous, witnessing believers were scattered because of persecution and they preached the gospel wherever they went but only in synagogues and to gatherings of Jewish people until they came to Antioch and some of them, you recall, who were Jews but from the dispersion, they grew up in Gentile locations and were not quite as steeped in traditional Judaism as the others. They began to witness, to preach the gospel and to witness to Gentiles, to Greeks. In Antioch they broke the mold. Now where is Antioch?

Antioch is 300 miles directly north of Jerusalem. It was a large Gentile city, an important Gentile city in that day in the Roman Empire and that's where the mold was broken. Up until this time there had been little, small numbers, individuals and families and small pockets of Gentiles who had come to faith in Christ because someone preached the gospel to them. But in Antioch is the place where great numbers of Gentiles believed the gospel. And so here in Antioch some began preaching the Lord Jesus, we read in verse 20, which is interesting and I don't know if this is making too much of the language or not.

Some of them were men from Cyprus, that's the island, and Cyrene, that's a major city in northern Africa in that day, who when they had come to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists preaching the Lord Jesus. I'm focusing on that phrase, the Lord Jesus, which is what they preached. And Christ is referred to by various names, various terms, various combinations of names and titles throughout the New Testament.

Sometimes he's simply called Lord, sometimes he's called the Lord Jesus as he is here, sometimes he's called the Lord Jesus Christ, all three of those terms put together. But whether this is the intention of saying that they preached the Lord Jesus or not, it is true that the term Christ would be of greatest significance to Jewish people. That when you are witnessing to Jews it's very important that you talk about the Christ because to them Christ was a title, it's the Greek equivalent of the word Messiah, it would be an exact synonym, Christ means the anointed one and it's a reference to the Messiah. And Jews, religious Jews, were all looking for the promised Messiah, which is another way of saying looking for the promised Christ.

And so with Jews you would emphasize that title. Let me tell you about the Christ. You know about him from your Old Testament scriptures.

You have been looking for him. You have been studying your scriptures with the thought in mind, what do these scriptures tell us about the coming of Christ? When will he come?

What will he accomplish? Very similar to the way that most believers in our day study the prophecies about the second coming of Jesus Christ with great interest. We read those prophecies, we study those prophecies, we think about those prophecies, we discuss those prophecies with others, we debate different views, different interpretations of what exactly takes place when Christ will return and how will he return and what takes place when he returns and what's next after he returns and so forth because all of these things, though prophesied, are not entirely clear to us. And it is my opinion that they will never be entirely clear to us until the event happens just like in the first coming of Christ, sincere, godly believers, mostly Jews, study the Old Testament scriptures, wondering about the first coming of Christ and yet it doesn't seem like anybody understood fully and completely what was encompassed in these prophecies until Jesus came. And when he came, the fulfillment then shed light upon the prophecies and it was clear. This is what the prophecies told us. This is what they were talking about and therefore Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Christ, the very Christ who was prophesied by our Old Testament prophets and the one for whom we have been looking. And so if you're preaching the gospel, if you're a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ and you're preaching the gospel to Jews, what are you going to talk about more than anything else? Christ, the Christ, the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophecies. You're interested in the Christ.

Now let me fill you in. He's already come. His name is Jesus. Here's how he came.

Here's what he did. Here's how he died. Here's how he rose again from the dead. And all of those things and many more are found in the Old Testament prophecies. Here, let me give you the history of Jesus Christ, what he did from his birth to his resurrection, ascension back to heaven.

These are the things that he did. Now, let me show you all those things in your Old Testament scriptures. Your prophecy says this and Jesus fulfilled that. Your prophecy says this and Jesus fulfilled that. Your prophecy said this and Jesus fulfilled that. Jesus is the Christ, the one that they were looking for.

But when you're preaching the gospel to Gentiles who have not been studying the Old Testament scriptures, who probably know nothing about the Old Testament scriptures unless they have been worshipping in a synagogue, most of the Gentiles who had come to Christ before Acts chapter 11 were those who were studying the Old Testament scriptures along with Jews in synagogues or were studying the Old Testament scriptures through some other means. I'm thinking of the Ethiopian eunuch who went to Jerusalem and purchased a copy of the prophecy of Isaiah and was reading it and studying it in his chariot on the way back home. And God put Philip right there beside his chariot. And Philip was invited up in the chariot. And Philip made inquiry about what he was reading and did he understand.

And the eunuch said, how can I understand except someone explained it to me? And Philip took the Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah 53 and explained how that spoke of Jesus Christ. This to a man who was studying the Old Testament scriptures about the promised Christ. But if you're coming to a group of Gentiles with a pagan background who have been worshipping in temples, who have not been to the synagogue, who have not read the Old Testament scriptures, who may not even know of their existence, then a major emphasis upon the Christ may not be the wisest way to approach them.

What do you need to preach to them? Exactly what is indicated here, preaching the Lord Jesus. Let me tell you about Jesus. They still need to know about Jesus, don't they? And knowing the history of Jesus and what he accomplished in his humanity, they also need to know that this one is Lord.

He's a man, but he's more than a man. He is the Lord Jesus. That's what Paul did in preaching the gospel in Athens, you remember, in Acts chapter 17. That's exactly how he approached that on Mars Hill with these scholarly people, but they were not students of the Old Testament.

And what did he say? They took him and asked him what he was representing, and Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that you are in all things very religious. Whereas I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Therefore the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you.

That's Lord, isn't it? The unknown God. God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, and so forth. And he makes a reference to Jesus in this as well.

I'm looking for it now without reading the whole thing, but I may not be able to find it without reading the whole thing. But he did, and here it is somewhere. Because he, God, has appointed today on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. This man, Jesus, is Lord.

He is judge. He is king. He is the Lord Jesus. No reference in that message to the Christ, the Messiah.

We understand that he is the Messiah, and anyone who comes to faith in the Lord Jesus will then be taught about the promised Messiah and will get an understanding of the Old Testament background and the scriptures that link together the Old and the New Testaments and the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, who is in fact the Christ prophesied of old. But they came to Antioch preaching the Lord Jesus, and we read in verse 21, The hand of the Lord was with them. Who were they preaching? The Lord Jesus. Whose hand is with them? The Lord's. I take this as Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ from heaven on his throne, who is attending their preaching with his power. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. You see that subtle shift away from Christ to Lord, though you don't eliminate Christ from your thinking any more than with the Jews talking about the Christ, you eliminate the concept of Lord.

But it's just a subtle difference in emphasis that is suitable to the background and understanding of different groups of people. And so the hand of the Lord was with them, and that's the indispensable component. You can preach the gospel all day long for years and never see one convert unless the hand of the Lord is with you. Do you believe that?

I hope you do because it's true. The one indispensable component is the hand of the Lord. Now, by his design, he has chosen to use the preaching of the gospel. So maybe we can say there are two indispensable components, but without both of them, you're not going to have a convert. On the one hand, from the human standpoint, there is the indispensable component of the proclamation of the gospel. On the other hand, from the divine standpoint, there is the indispensable part of the hand of the Lord being with you.

That is necessary if there's going to be a convert. And here the hand of the Lord was with them in unusual measure, an unusual degree, so that there was not only a conversion or some conversions or several conversions, but no, a great number believed and turned to the Lord. You say, how many, how many?

We don't know. It's interesting, in the early chapters of Acts, we are given numbers. On the day of Pentecost, how many were saved? Three thousand. Shortly thereafter, another great ingathering, how many were saved? Five thousand. And then after that, we just read things like, and a great many believed, a great number turned to the Lord.

The exact numbers are no longer given, but there are indications of more fruitful harvests in some places than in others, and this is one of those places, a fruitful harvest. Many believed. That's faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Many believed and turned, we read, a great number believed and turned. What is that turning? That's repentance. What is repentance? It is a turning.

Turning around, going the other direction. In our sinful, Adamic nature, what are we doing? We are marching toward darkness. We are marching toward sin.

We're drawn to it. We're marching away from God, and sometimes running away from Him as fast as we can. And then when the hand of the Lord attends the preaching of God's word that comes to us, and our hearts are changed, what do we do?

We turn around. And now sin and darkness and the world are behind us, and now our face is set toward Jesus Christ, our face is set toward righteousness, our face is set toward the light, our face is set toward truth. And that's repentance. We repent of all of this. We put it behind us. We renounce it.

And we turn in another direction. We turn to the Lord. That's repentance. So they believed faith. They turned to the Lord.

What's that? That's surrender. That's submission. They turned, and again, these words are important. It doesn't say they turned to Jesus, though they did. It doesn't say they turned to Jesus Christ, though they did.

But the words are chosen carefully. They turned to the Lord. That speaks of His deity. That speaks of His sovereignty.

That speaks of His authority. And so in believing, they repented and turned to the Lord. This is an act of submission, an act of surrender, and they did so, we are told, in great numbers. As faithful evangelists were obedient to preach the gospel, and in this case broke out of the cultural mold and preached the gospel to every creature, not just to those of Jewish origin, God blessed that evangelistic work with His power. God worked, and a great number believed. That's evangelism. But that's not all there is of missions.

That's just the beginning. We preach the gospel, and if God blesses it with the salvation of souls, that's just the beginning. Some people have the mistaken idea that we just preach the gospel, and people get saved, and we've done our work, and we go on someplace else and preach the gospel, and people are saved, and we've done our work, and we go someplace else and preach the gospel.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not the pattern you see in the New Testament. That's not the pattern you see in the greatest missionary, the apostle Paul. What did he do when people were saved? He established churches every place that people were saved.

And that pattern starts right here from the very beginning. We're talking about the missionary heart of the early church. Number one, evangelism. Number two, church planting. I read it, but I'll read that section again. Verse 22, the news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.

I've always found that phrase to be a little bit amusing. But churches have ears. Churches have ears? We're not talking about buildings, but churches have ears. How do churches have ears? The members of the church have ears. Churches are people.

Churches are a congregation of believers who have come together in a particular place to worship and serve the Lord, who have come together as one organized body. And the news of what was going on in Antioch came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem. The news was proclaimed there, and the people heard about it, and they followed up on it. Then the news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. Who is Barnabas? Barnabas has been mentioned once before.

In fact, he was introduced back in chapter 4. And the closing verses of chapter 4 describe how, with this great work of God that was going on in the church of Jerusalem, there was an amazing spirit of sacrificial giving. And the people were selling their possessions and bringing the proceeds and laying the money that they received from the sale of their houses and lands at the apostles' feet so that the apostles could distribute it to the poor among them, and in that way nobody was in poverty, nobody was in need. So we read, with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

Now, as the passage unfolds, we get a little clearer idea of what's going on here. It's not that if someone was living in a house and that was the only place he had to live, he sold his house and that was out on the street, living in a tent. No, this is people selling vacation homes, second homes, surplus homes. This is people selling land that they don't need, they're not using, it's an investment. It's an inheritance and so forth. They're getting rid of surplus. They're getting rid of extra. They're willing to give it away.

They don't need it, and they're willing to give it, and that's what happens here. And we read in verse 36, Joseph, who's that, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. There's Barnabas, and we learn a number of things about Barnabas in this brief introduction of the last of Acts chapter 4. We read that his given name was Joseph, or short for Joseph. But he was named Barnabas by the apostles.

Why? Because of his nature, because of his character, because of his spirit, because of his activity and the effect he had upon other believers, and what was that? Barnabas, which is translated son of encouragement. He was one of these people who just had an especially encouraging spirit, an encouraging manner, an encouraging way about him that encouraged others. We all know people like that. They're God's gift to the church. All of us should try to be encouragers, but as in everything, some people are more especially gifted that way than others. We should all learn to teach God's word the best we can, but not everybody's a gifted teacher.

We should all give. Everybody's expected to give, but some people have the gift of giving and can give to an unusual degree and to an unusual way, and on it goes. Some have the gift of administration. They just have this knack of organizing things and carrying them out. We have people like that. I'm so thankful for them. They have a special gift. They're eager to do it. We have people in our church who are asking for the opportunity to organize certain things. We've had to hold them back because of COVID. No, sorry, not yet. Well, just let me know. All I need is two weeks' notice, and I can organize the whole thing.

They're eager to do it. They've got that gift of administration, and they love to exercise their gift to the glory of Christ, and some people have a special gift of encouragement, and Barnabas was one of those. Joseph was renamed, nicknamed, we would say, Barnabas by the apostles, which means son of encouragement. What else do we know about him? He was a Levite of the tribe of Levi and of the country of Cyprus from the island of Cyprus, and that man having sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Well, we'll have to learn more about Barnabas and what took place under his leadership in Antioch at another time. Now we shall bow in closing prayer. Well, Heavenly Father, we give you thanks. We praise you for answering prayer in regard to Tiana Batia, that her shoulder surgery went so well. We praise you for answering prayer in regard to Mary Ann Freeman, who was able to receive her SLPA license recently. We rejoice, O Lord, in answered prayer in regard to Stuart Waugh, first that he finally, after all these years, was brought to the place where he had his successful liver transplant, and then, O Lord, that he's gaining strength and is out of the hospital.

For this we give you praise. We pray for our government officials, particularly for the Burlington mayor, Ian Batutis, that you might guide him and guard him. We pray for Art Pope as he goes through additional tests.

And for Mary Shaw as she faces shoulder surgery and for Shirley Watkins at peak resources as she recovers. We pray for Trinity French and for her family as she has been diagnosed with COVID-19 that she'll bring her safely through and that she'll protect others. We pray for Gaylord Remel as he recovers from his heart ablation and as he undergoes his lung biopsy tomorrow. We pray for Lee Vestal and the discoveries of the ultrasound he had today.

We commit him to you. We pray for Grace Goodman who had surgery today. We pray, O Lord, that that went well or may even yet be going on, and may it go well. We pray that you will help her to recover. And we pray for Trevor Johnson. We pray for Paul Snide, and we pray for other missionaries. We pray for the families of Eva Davis and Ann Goad and Ray McIntyre who all passed away recently. And we pray for Linda Bruner as she battles cancer, and Stephen Corbett also battling cancer, and Scott Latour likewise battling cancer, and David Moxley who is battling cancer. And we pray, O Lord, for ourselves that you will keep us cleaving to yourself and honoring Christ, in whose name we ask these things. Amen.